Paedophile nursery worker Vanessa George has been released from prison on what has been branded “a dark day for British justice”.

The 49-year-old was jailed indefinitely in 2009 and told to serve a minimum of seven years behind bars for abusing toddlers at Little Ted’s Nursery in Plymouth.

Earlier this month, the Parole Board concluded that she no longer poses a significant risk to the public, although she is under “strict licence conditions” and has been banned from Devon and Cornwall.

On Wednesday, a source confirmed that George had been released from prison.

Luke Pollard MP, who represents the constituency where she committed the crimes, said: “I am disgusted that serial child abuser Vanessa George is being released early today.

“Vanessa George only served ten years and is being released early. The victims and their families now have a life sentence ahead of them of not knowing whether it was their child who was abused or not.

“Vanessa George chose not to end the suffering of these families or give them any certainty. She should not be released because she has not named her victims.

“The parole conditions mean she can never return to Plymouth, Devon or Cornwall. But she will have to settle somewhere and they need to have the resources to ensure she has no contact with children or can make contact with her victims.

“People I know in Plymouth share in my anger, frustration and disgust. I firmly believe that Vanessa George should be behind bars, not walking our streets.

“This is a dark day for British justice.”

Nursery child abuse case
CCTV footage of Vanessa George on the phone to her lawyer while in police custody in Plymouth (Devon and Cornwall Police/PA)

When news broke of her imminent release, chief probation officer Sonia Crozier wrote an open letter to try to reassure the people of Plymouth.

She said: “She will never be allowed to work with children again and will be on the sex offenders’ register for the rest of her life.

“She is subject to a number of conditions, including not to have unsupervised contact with any children whatsoever.

“If she breaches any of these conditions or if her probation officer thinks there is an increasing chance she might re-offend – she can be immediately recalled to prison.”

Nursery child abuse case
A member of the charity group Abused Babies and Children Foundation (ABC) holds a placard that shows the face of Vanessa George during a protest outside Bristol Crown Court when George was jailed in 2009 (Barry Batchelor/PA)

During George’s 2009 sentencing, Mr Justice Royce told her she had “plumbed new depths of depravity” by abusing those in her care.

The “shockwaves” of her maltreatment of babies and toddlers would be felt in every one of the country’s nursery schools, he added.

Although the self-styled “paedo whore mum” has named some victims, George was accused of deliberately hiding information that would properly pinpoint those in the pictures she took.

Child protection officers visited 180 children thought to have had contact with George, who admitted taking up to eight pictures a day while on duty.

The Parole Board has said that it will consider sympathetically any further requests for exclusion zones, to prevent any victim from coming into contact inadvertently with George.